Uploaded July 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Over the Garden Wall is an American animated television miniseries created by Patrick McHale for Cartoon Network. The series centers on two half-brothers who travel across a strange forest in order to find their way home, encountering odd and wonderful things on their journey. The show is based on McHale's animated short film Tome of the Unknown, which was produced as part of Cartoon Network Studios' shorts development program. The show features Elijah Wood and Collin Dean as the protagonists Wirt and Greg, and Melanie Lynskey as a bluebird named Beatrice. Over the Garden Wall was broadcast throughout the week of November 3, 2014 to November 7, 2014.
The show marked the first miniseries on the network, which commenced its production in March 2014. McHale first envisioned the show in 2004, and pitched it to the network in 2006. After working on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and Adventure Time, the network expressed interest in McHale pitching a pilot.
he series follows two half-brothers, Wirt and Greg (voiced by Elijah Wood and Collin Dean respectively), who become lost in a strange forest called the Unknown. In order to find their way home, the two must travel across the seemingly supernatural forest with the occasional help of the wandering, mysterious and elderly Woodsman (Christopher Lloyd) and Beatrice (Melanie Lynskey), an irritable bluebird who travels with the boys in order to find a woman called Adelaide, who can supposedly undo the curse on Beatrice and her family and show the half-brothers the way home.

Wirt, the older brother, is a worry-prone teenager and would rather keep to himself than have to make a decision. His three passions are the clarinet, poetry, and architecture but he keeps this private out of fear of being mocked. On the other hand, Greg, the younger brother, is all about play and being carefree, much to Wirt's chagrin and the danger to himself and others. Greg carries a frog (Jack Jones), whose name is undetermined and who can communicate only through singing. Stalking the main cast is the Beast (Samuel Ramey), an ancient creature who leads lost souls astray until they lose their hope and willpower and turn into "Edelwood trees".
Final chapters
In the final two episodes, it is revealed that Wirt and Greg are actually two boys from the modern era. Wirt and Greg's strange appearance stems from the fact it was Halloween the night they were transported into the Unknown. Wirt, attempting to take back an embarrassing poetry tape he made for a girl he likes, had followed her to a graveyard scary story gathering before a police officer scared him and Greg into jumping over the cemetery's garden wall. On the other side of the wall, they landed on train tracks where Greg was almost hit by a train. Wirt pushed them both off a hill into a lake/river in an attempt to save him, knocking them both unconscious in the process.
At the end of the last episode, Wirt and Greg wake up in a hospital, with Greg telling a story but being cut off before we can hear what it's about. As the scene ends, Greg's frog begins to glow, due to having eaten a magic bell in The Unknown, suggesting that there was at least some physical aspect to the story. The series ends with a slow montage of how Wirt and Greg affected the inhabitants of the Unknown.
Main voices
Elijah Wood as Wirt
Collin Dean as Gregory (Greg)
Melanie Lynskey as Beatrice
Christopher Lloyd as the Woodsman
Jack Jones as Greg's Frog
Samuel Ramey as the Beast
Various voices
Emily Brundige as Sara
Mark Bodnar as the North Wind
John Cleese as Quincy Endicott; Adelaide
Tim Curry as Auntie Whispers
Noureen DeWulf as Pumpkin Gal
Frank Fairfield as the Toy Maker
Chris Isaak as Enoch
Shirley Jones as Beatrice's Mother
Janet Klein as Miss Langtree
Thomas Lennon as Jimmy Brown
Sam Marin as Mr. Langtree
Judah Nelson as the Cloud City Reception Committee
Bebe Neuwirth as Margueritte Grey
Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton as the Highwayman
Cole Sanchez as Jason Funderberker
Shannyn Sossamon as Lorna
Fred Stoller as Fred the Horse
Deborah Voigt as Queen of the Clouds
Audrey Wasilewski as the Tavern Keeper
The Old Grist Mill, Hard Times at the Huskin' Bee, Schooltown Follies, Songs of the Dark Lantern, Mad Love, Lullaby in Frogland, The Ringing of the Bell, Babes in the Wood, Into the Unknown, The Unknown
Music
1. "Over the Garden Wall"
2. "Into the Unknown (Theme Song)"
3. "Like Ships"
4. "Patient is the Night"
5. "Forward, Oneiroi!"
6. "The Highwayman Song"
7. "Come Wayward Souls"
8. "A Courting Song"
9. "Langtree's Lament"
10. "Potatoes and Molasses"
A one-shot comic book adaptation of the show was announced in October 2014. Produced by KaBoom!, an imprint of Boom! Studios, the comic was released on November 5, 2014.